As part of the team implementing sustainability initiatives across Flinders University, William Van Ausdal deserves his moniker of “self-professed climate geek”. We caught up with him to discuss his time spent working in refugee resettlement, and how he compares his work to how a child builds a treehouse.

What is your role, and what does your work focus on?

My role is the Principal Sustainability Strategist for Flinders University. The role is based within Corporate Services, as part of the Property, Facilities, and Development team, enabling the direct implementation of sustainability initiatives.

I work throughout the organisation to identify, develop, implement, and promote sustainable solutions, with guidance from the Sustainability Advisory Group and its representation across the university.

Priority items for this year include the development of a decarbonisation roadmap to plan our climate positive approach, integrate electric vehicles into our fleet and trial vehicle to grid technology, embed sustainability into capital works, and further investigate energy generation and storage, as well as recycled water supply and distribution.

I also work outside the organisation to identify partners and funding opportunities and am also looking for knowledge sharing.

What journey brought you to this point in your career?

While I am originally from Oregon in the US, I am also a New Zealand citizen and of Mexican and mixed European descent. I’ve studied international politics and travelled the world with this global perspective, but after working with refugee resettlement, I started to have a more tangible understanding of the root causes of global issues. Having seen the impacts of environmental degradation in various impactful experiences, I then completed an MSc in Corporate Environmental Management from a difficult to pronounce Finnish University (University of Jyväskylä), where I learned how to combine science-based and business approaches to address environmental issues.

I’ve now worked in the climate change and sustainability space for over a decade in several countries, advising private sector clients, local and central government, and the tertiary sector. I’ve developed sustainability programs from the ground up, embedded and strengthened existing programmes, and led sustainability projects towards positive and lasting results.

Most important to my journey has been a willingness to jump into the unknown, whether moving or entering a new sector and using these experiences and learnings to grow my intuitive understanding of challenges and viable opportunities.

What do you love most about your work?

Apart from working on local solutions to pressing global issues, which builds a strong sense of purpose, I appreciate the balance of autonomy, engagement, challenge and variety that sustainability work encompasses.

What would you like people to know about your role?

While I believe that a Swiss army knife best represents the ethos and responsibilities that sustainability represents, I also think it’s critical to remember that our societal transition represents more than one role, team or service unit. ​I appreciate the concept of conditional optimism that is represented by a child thinking about building a treehouse. “If I get some wood and nails and persuade other kids to help do the work, we can end up with something cool.”​ To enable a societal transition towards a viable future through the realisation of sustainability outcomes, we need to build shared aspirations and responsibilities.

What is something you are most proud of?

Besides being a self-professed climate geek and advising the early development of a globally-accepted framework to calculate and report on city greenhouse gases, I assisted the City of Adelaide in becoming carbon neutral and conducting the first of its kind Climate Risk Assessment.

What does a typical day look like for you?

It’s a cliché to say that no two days are alike, but the variety of work, constantly evolving challenges and new opportunities that arise mean that there are mornings when I look at my calendar, and I often feel like a voyeur into someone else’s exciting day. Here is a randomly selected day in the life of sustainability:

9:30am – Campus Retailer Recycling Engagement.

10am – Bedford Park District Heating and Cooling Study.

11am – Council Integrated Transport, Resource Recovery, Climate Risk Plan.

12pm – Electric Vehicle-to-Grid Charging Trial.

1pm – Environmentally Sustainable Design.

2pm – University of Adelaide Sustainability Catchup.

3pm – Storyboard Sustainability Video Series.

4pm – Greenhouse Gas Inventory Review.

4:30pm – Recycled Water Supply.

How do you like to relax or spend your spare time?

I play soccer (by far the most senior player by a measure of decades), noodle away on my violin and love growing random plants from found seeds. I also appreciate quiet nights with my wife and rescue cat, with a glass of McLaren Vale red, after a day of beach-going, surfing or hiking.